Facebook launches Community Hub on Messenger to fight coronavirus misinformation

Facebook today unveiled Messenger Coronavirus Community Hub that offers tips, authoritative information and other resources to help stay connected and informed about the coronavirus outbreak, weeks after launching a similar information hub on its other messaging service WhatsApp.

The launch of the coronavirus hub on Messenger, used by more than a billion people, comes at a time when users are engaging with the instant messaging and voice calling more often than they have ever before, the company said.

“Around the world, we’ve seen significant increases in people using Messenger for group calls to stay in touch with their loved ones. Globally, 70% more people are participating in group video calls and time spent on group video calls has doubled,” wrote Stan Chudnovsky, VP of Messenger.

The community hub for Messenger users is the latest effort from the social conglomerate, used by more than 2.5 billion users, to help fight the global pandemic. In recent weeks, Facebook has stepped up to help governments, agencies with free developer tools for Messenger to combat COVID-19, and introduced an info centre atop of the news feed to prominently offer reliable information.

More to follow…